A Musical Tour of 18th-century Edinburgh

Throughout the 18th century, Edinburgh’s city centre was a hubbub of sights, sounds, and smells. Imagine taking a stroll down the Royal Mile, through the Land Market toward the Lucken booths, passing by the Flesh market, Green market, various churches, theatres, music venues, and stores. Both outside and in, the city was awash with sound. Ballad hawkers enticed punters to purchase song sheets by singing new lyrics to familiar tune such as ‘The Yellow Hair’d Laddie’ or ‘Blythsome Bridal’. The same tunes were also transformed into luxurious art songs fit for the concert room, where Italian songsters regularly performed before the elite members of Edinburgh society. This talk will provide an overview of the songs and tunes one would typically hear strolling through Edinburgh’s old town during the 18th century, while providing insight into the various characters responsible for arranging, composing, and performing such music.

Biography

Brianna E. Robertson-Kirkland

Brianna E. Robertson-Kirkland is a Lecturer in Historical Musicology at The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and her most recent publications include Venanzio Rauzzini and the Birth of a New Style in English Singing Scandalous Lessons (2022), Allan Ramsay’s The Tea Table Miscellany co-edited with Professor Murray Pittock (2023), and Credulity in the Age of Reason (2024). Previously, she was the lead Research Associate for the AHRC-funded project 'The Collected Works of Allan Ramsay' at the University of Glasgow. She was a Visiting Fellow at Chawton House (2017) and the University of Sydney (2017 & 2019) with her most recent visit culminating in several practice-based, collaborative performances between Scotland’s Concerto Caledonia and Melbourne’s Evergreen Ensemble, including the historically led album Curious Caledonians (2020).